Sunday, October 19, 2008

Hodge Podge Bean Soup for No Croutons Required

Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen has a great monthly event No Croutons Requiredthat I usually end up missing....life somehow gets in the way. But this time the theme is Hearty Vegetarian Soupsand I just made a fantastic one, so I thought I'd share.

Once upon a time I made a fantastic Adzuki Bean Stewfrom an excellent cookbookFresh at Home and I thought I had all the ingredients on hand....I had made a huge batch of the Roasted Vegetable Broth (bottom of the Adzuki post), and canned beans, plus a batch of chickpeas I had soaked and cooked a week or so ago.

So I started out following the recipe and got stumped....I used twice as much broth as the recipe called for...had only 2 cups of chickpeas and so I headed for the cupboard...2 small tins of navy beans (initially I couldn't find the adzuki beans) and added them all to the broth. I only had 1 tablespoon of tomato paste in the freezer and I didn't want to open a new tin for 1 more tablespoon so I used some chipotle in adobo that I had pureed and stored in the freezer.

Wow! That added way too much spice, so back to the pot...add more broth...good thing I made a ton, used my immersion blender to make it thick but not totally pureed and taste....ouch! still too spicy, add more beans...this time I found the adzuki and left them whole for added texture.

Everyone loved the dish...more like chili than soup, but perfect for the weather...wet and chilly!